"Shocking."

Posted by
Miss Smithnearly 2 years ago

Was refereed here by my 3 year olds daughters dentist to have her tooth out as an emergency as she's had 3 abscesses under it in the space of a couple of months. Arrived there at 7.30AM with a referral letter thinking I'd been seen in a few hours as we was a referral. Come half past 12 my daughter still hadn't been seen by anyone! Having been up since 5, traveling an hour with 2 kids and greeted by a women when asked how many people was in front just be fobbed off with any old number it's safe to say we'd had enough And went home! I'm a very patient person and this place certainly tested mine! I wouldn't recommend this place to my worst enemy. Think the staff should start realising somethings wrong when several people start falling to sleep in the waiting room! Never will I again come to or advise anyone to come to this place. I wouldn't even waste the 3000 letters that the review gives you to write about this place. Good luck to anyone that has to go here you going to need it.

Responses

Dear Miss Smith I am sorry to read of your disappointing experience during your visit to Birmingham Dental Hospital with your daughter. It isn't clear from your feedback whether you attended the Primary Care (walk in) service of the hospital or whether you understood your daughter had been referred by her dentist. If a formal referral had been received, your daughter would have been offered an appointment, but it sounds from your description as though you attended the Primary Care walk-in service for which patients who require urgent dental care attend without a booked appointment, and are seen in the order of registration. When attending the primary care walk in service, patients are provided with a numbered ticket on arrival and wait to be seen in ticket order. This system allows us to respond to a limited number of patients who require urgent dental treatment each day who attend without a pre-booked appointment. This arrangement can mean that some patients may wait some time to be seen. I should also explain that other patients also attend the same clinical area for booked follow-up appointments which can give the impression that patients are not seen in ticket order, and can lead to the frustrations you describe. I am very sorry if you were not made aware of the possible waiting time for you and your daughter and of the likelihood of other patients who arrive later than you being seen ahead of you. We are concerned that your daughter may still not have received the treatment she requires. I urge you to please contact Helen Fisher, General Manager at the hospital by phone on 0121 466 5319 or email helen.fisher@bhamcommunity.nhs.uk Helen Fisher will be happy to arrange a time for your daughter to be assessed. Alternatively you are welcome to contact me, Alison Last, Associate Director of Patient Experience on 0121 466 7128 or email alison.last@bhamcommunity.nhs.uk and I can liaise with the hospital on your behalf to resolve this matter. Please be assured your feedback and your daughter's dental care and treatment are important to us, and I hope you will contact either Helen Fisher or me at your earliest convenience to resolve this matter. Yours sincerely Alison Last Associate Director of Patient Experience